The present invention relates in general to integrated circuitry, and in particular to complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) logic and circuits with enhanced speed characteristics.
For a number of reasons CMOS is the logic family of choice in today's VLSI devices. Due to the complementary nature of its operation, CMOS logic consumes near zero static power. CMOS also readily scales with technology. These two features are highly desirable given the drastic growth in demand for low power and portable electronic devices. Further, with the computer aided design (CAD) industry's focus on developing automated design tools for CMOS based technologies, the cost and the development time of CMOS VLSI devices has reduced significantly.
The one drawback of the CMOS logic family, however, remains its limited speed. That is, conventional CMOS logic has not achieved the highest attainable switching speeds made possible by modern sub-micron CMOS technologies. This is due to a number of reasons. Referring to FIG. 1, there is shown a conventional CMOS inverter 100—the most basic building block of CMOS logic. A p-channel transistor 102 switches between the output and the positive power supply Vcc, and an n-channel transistor 104 switches between the output and the negative power supply (or ground). The switching speed in CMOS logic is inversely proportional to the average on resistance (Ron) of the MOS transistor, and the load capacitance CL on a given node (τ=Ron×CL). The on resistance Ron is proportional to the transistor channel length L divided by the power supply voltage (i.e., Ron α L/Vcc), while the load capacitance is given by the gate capacitance of the transistor being driven (i.e., W×L×Cox, where Cox is the gate oxide capacitance), plus the interconnect parasitic capacitance Cint. Therefore, with reduced transistor channel lengths L, the switching speed is generally increased.
This relationship, however, no longer holds in sub-micron technologies. As the channel length L in CMOS technology shrinks into the sub-micron range, the power supply voltage must be reduced to prevent potential damage to the transistors caused by effects such as oxide breakdown and hot-electrons. The reduction of the power supply voltage prevents the proportional lowering of Ron with the channel length L. Moreover, the load capacitance which in the past was dominated by the capacitances associated with the MOS device, is dominated by the routing or interconnect capacitance (Cint) in modern sub 0.5 micron technologies. This means that the load capacitance will not be reduced in proportion with the channel length L. Thus, the RC loading which is the main source of delaying the circuit remains relatively the same as CMOS technology moves in the sub-micron range.
Furthermore, modern sub-micron CMOS process technologies such as a 0.13μ process, require lower power supply voltages (e.g., 1.2 volts) for reliability concerns. The lower power supply voltages, which are characteristic of these sub-micron CMOS processes, limit the current density or the transconductance of the MOS transistor rendering the devices even slower.
As a result of the speed limitations of conventional CMOS logic, integrated circuit applications in the Giga Hertz frequency range have had to look to alternative technologies such as ultra high speed bipolar circuits and Gallium Arsenide (GaAs). These alternative technologies, however, have drawbacks of their own that have made them more of a specialized field with limited applications as compared to silicon MOSFET that has had widespread use and support by the industry. In particular, compound semiconductors such as GaAs are more susceptible to defects that degrade device performance, and suffer from increased gate leakage current and reduced noise margins. Furthermore, attempts to reliably fabricate a high quality oxide layer using GaAs have not thus far met with success. This has made it difficult to fabricate GaAs FETs, limiting the GaAs technology to junction field-effect transistors (JFETs) or Schottky barrier metal semiconductor field-effect transistors (MESFETs). A major drawback of the bipolar technology, among others, is its higher current dissipation even for circuits that operate at lower frequencies.
It is therefore highly desirable to develop integrated circuit design techniques that are based on conventional silicon CMOS technology, but overcome the speed limitations of CMOS logic.